Dialogues Aren't Suppose to Mimic Real Life
It's a craft that isn't about sounding real, but feeling real.
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Sure, actions can be real.
But dialogue?
It should hardly ever be.
“When you watch a play, you're engaging in a metaphor.”
- Simon Stephens, British-Irish Playwright
Because if we truly mimicked how we speak in real life…
God, it would be long. Draggy. And repetitive.
So. Many. “Uhms.” So many detours before we reach a point.
In real life, there’s time.
On stage, there isn’t. Quite.
Strategically use your words.
As playwrights, your job is not to mimic life.
It’s to shape it. Craft it. Condense it,
into something that carries weight.
Dialogue needs to:
Progress the story
Give the audience a clue
Shape a character
Set up a future payoff
Land a moment they’ll remember for life
It’s not about being “natural.”
It’s about being purposeful.
Write between the lines.
Subtext. That beautiful thing.
Subtext tells the story without telling the story.
Tbh, It took a loooong time to really hone in the art of writing subtext. Sometimes it’s not about deleting the last few words, it’s about letting your characters say what they really want to without saying it. And I am still learning!
For example:
Instead of Micah saying:
”Wow, so I was right! You ARE really actually fucking rich!”
He simply calls back to the moment earlier where he said:
“So this is how the other half lives.”
It’s the puzzle piece you offer the audience.
It’s something for them to connect, discover, sit with.
Because people come to the theatre to feel.
To be moved.
To gasp. To laugh. To lean in.
And your job is to ask yourself:
What’s the best way I can elicit that response?
More often than not, the answer is:
Short. Sharp. Dense. Purposeful.
Whether it’s a monologue or a dialogue.
It should not be a fluffy, meandering ramble made to “sound real.”
Try This:
Next time you’re chatting with friend(s), take a step back and observe the conversation.
Notice how:
People interrupt each other mercilessly to a point of confusion
Points get lost
We circle around ideas without landing them
We don’t speak in clean, crafted arcs
There sometimes isn’t a real/clear point
And you’ll 100% think:
“God… this would be so boring to watch on stage.”
Do you have any dialogue tips? I really want to know!
It will definitely help me write better too. :)